title: The meaning and role of ideology in system justification and resistance for high- and low-status people.
abstract: In this article we explore how beliefs about system ideals and the achievement of those ideals differentially predict system justification among low- and high-status groups. Our goal was to reconcile how people can promote system ideals such as equal opportunities for all and at the same time recognize that group-based disparities are, in part, due to these unfulfilled ideals. Three studies examined whether people perceived a discrepancy between a system's ideal goals and its achievement of those goals. Everyone endorsed these goal ideals more than they believed that the goals were being achieved; however, this discrepancy was larger for low-status people. The larger the perceived discrepancy, the more dissatisfied people were with the system and the more likely they were to support hierarchy-attenuating policies. Studies 2 and 3 also examined people's motivation for endorsing goal ideals. People of all statuses endorsed system ideals to promote an ideal system more than to legitimize the actual system (Study 2); however, high-status people were slightly more likely to endorse system ideals to legitimize the actual system than low-status people (Study 3). In summary, low-status people were more likely than high-status people to recognize discrepancies between system goals and system outcomes, show dissatisfaction with the American system, and prefer policies that would attenuate extant hierarchies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614, USA. jzimmer3@depaul.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reyna
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D003709:Democracy; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012923:Social Class; D012935:Social Justice / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012938:Social Perception; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult